Ad of the Week: Carlsberg faces the trolls as part of commitment to change

For a brewer as big as Carlsberg to completely overhaul its core lager is no small undertaking. Its new ad aims to underline its commitment to quality.

It takes a brutal approach. Surely inspired by US TV host Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘mean tweets’ feature (in which celebrities read out unkind remarks about themselves), it sees staff at its UK brewery challenged to recite online appraisals along the lines of ‘it’s like drinking the bathwater your nan died in’. Ouch. There’s some shock, a few refuse to play along… but most gamely laugh it off.

Facing the trolls puts the brand on the moral high ground (it has a similar effect on Kimmel’s celebs, who unlike this ad’s participants have wealth and fame to fall back on), while the fancy glass shown at the end suggests the new brew is more premium – which should encourage drinkers to try it.